June 2018

Berkeley-based Strawberry Canyon Track Club is reporting that its M50 mile star Tom LeGan ran a road mile last weekend in 4:24.8, supposedly breaking the point-to-point age-group WR of 4:28 at the Fifth Avenue Mile. (Not sure of details.) The Los Gatos event, called the One Mile Bang, isn’t yet listing results. But road miles don’t count in World Masters Athletics stats anyway. Tom has his eye on the listed WR, however — Nolan Shaheed’s 4:25.04 from 2001. Tom’s moonshot reportedly will take place July 17 at a meet in San Rafael. (I’m worried about it being unsanctioned, however.) A…

The four-county Southern California Association of USATF is making good on its nonprofit status — offering grants to masters and para-athletes this summer. Chris Gentile, a longtime master middle-distance star, is interim president of the association and shared details in a recent phone chat. Chris says $7,000 is available for those headed to Spokane nationals and Malaga worlds (also the Para-Athletics Youth World Games in Athlone, Ireland) — for travel, lodging and entry fees, etc. Applications will be reviewed by the association’s Athletes Advisory Committee led by Lorraine Williams. It asks a lot of questions, including some that may freak…

The race for Malaga is on. Not for medals. We’re talking moolah via social media. Masters tracksters globally have discovered crowdfunding sites — just as John Oleski suggested two years ago. GoFundMe appears to be the go-to site for age-groupers. World champion sprinters Emma McGowan ($1,380 raised so far) and Don McGee ($795) are making progress toward their September worlds goals. Newcomer Andrea Collier has $1,995 so far, Clinton Aurelien $225, Ty Brown $300 and Tony Williams $850. At least one is overpromising. John Wall ($1,675 of $3,000 goal) writes: “I am a two time Gold Medallist for Australia and…

The older I get, the faster they get — the young’ns I race in San Diego all-comers meets. In previous years, I reveled in smoking 10-year-olds. On Wednesday, at the Summer Nights Series meet at Cuyamaca College near my home, I had no problem with 6-year-old Jude Jefferson in Lane 8. (I was in Lane 7.) But over in lane 5 was Gregory Jefferson (his brother?). I saw him just ahead of me and tried to reel him in. But alas, he beat me 15.14 to 15.40 as fellow 64-year-old Mark Atherton got a masters PR in 15.02. (See results…

One of the country’s longest-standing meets is hoping to get masters events back on its schedule. The 92nd annual Kansas Relays will be held April 17-20, 2019, at the university’s recently built Rock Chalk Park. The meet features several high school, college and university races, a unique quadrathlon format for Division I schools, and appearances by a handful of professional athletes. Up until two years ago, it also had a few events for masters athletes. But the number of athletes over age 40 who would show up to run had been dwindling, causing the meet organizers to take those events…

Hall of Famer and former WMA Athlete of the Year Charles Allie pulled a Usain Bolt at Des Moines USA open nationals Thursday, running away with a “mixed masters” 200 exhibition in a spectacular 25.75 seconds. That made him, at 70, the oldest human to go sub-26 in the deuce. He crushed the listed M70 world record of 26.47 by Britain’s Glyn Sutton at 2015 Lyon worlds. On the Age-Graded Tables, his mark is equivalent to an open (20-30) time of 19.68. (Methinks it should be 19.08.) (Charlie ran a 26.45 indoor WR this past winter, so he improved the…

Hicham El Guerrouj, meet José Vicente Rioseco. Twenty years ago, the Moroccan miler set the still-standing world record for 1500 meters of 3:26.00. So what can we say about José? On Saturday, the Spaniard ran the age-graded equivalent of 3:24.1. But José is 77, so he’ll have to be content with a M75 world record of 5:11.27. The listed WR is 5:22.40 by Shichiro Midorikawa of Japan in 2007 (although another outdoor mark of 5:22.35 by Frenchman Jean Louis Esnault is legit, and late Canadian superstar Ed Whitlock ran an indoor 5:20.04.) A Spanish track newsletter noted Jose’s mark “during…

Linda Cohn and Damien Leake pocketed $1,000 prizes each Saturday when the Southern California Striders teammates set world records at the Sierra Gold Masters Track and Field Festival in Grass Valley, California. (See results here.) Linda extended her own W65 world record in the javelin to 34.80 meters (114-2) less than a year after setting the listed WR of 33.99 (111-6). In the 100, Damien clocked 12.31 with a 1.3 mps legal wind to pip the listed M65 WR of 12.33 by Bill Collins at last year’s Penn Relays. The same 100 also saw M70 superstar Charles Allie scare the…

On Father’s Day, I sent email to two candidates for WMA president, seeking responses to two dozen questions. Not sure of my email address for Germany’s Margit Jungmann, I CC’d current prez Stan Perkins of Australia. Soon I got a note from Stan: “Are you aware that Vesa Lappalainen from Finland is also a candidate for the Presidency?” Oops, nope. Turns out Vesa is a recent entry — perhaps the last couple weeks. This helps U.S. candidate Gary Snyder, since the European vote could be split, giving our former national masters chair a better shot in voting at Malaga’s General…

Janes Elite Racing entered two 4×800 relay units at Saturday’s USATF Southern California Association Masters Championships at West Los Angeles College. (See results here.) The younger Janes (ages 33 to 42) clocked a fine 10:24.31. But two seconds back were four Janes ages 52, 52, 53, 53. They ran a sensational 10:26.85 to smash the W40 American club record of 10:45.23 by Athena TC in 2012. But the American and world record remains 10:24.21 at 2014 Winston-Salem nationals by Beth Shisler, Sarah Allers, Claudette Groenendaal and Lorraine Jasper. The Janes were led off by Tania Fischer (2:34) followed by Kathy…

Masters on Twitter

Athletes who are not on the top six in the World list of those eligible for performance-based support from the Team USATF Torun World #1 Program can earn support by competing at... https://t.co/de3yt9kO0I

Sign up for the USATF East Region and New England Association Masters Indoor T&F Championship being held 1/27/19 at the Providence Career and Technical Academy
Providence, Rhode Island https://t.co/MK1fO5l1XP

Job Alert! Be a Volunteer and Welcome the World ! The @wmaToronto2020 Host Committee is looking for many key volunteer leadership positions now, interested ? Check out the WMA website for info; https://t.co/RD9oye67YK #TorontoComms @TOSportsCouncil @TorontoPFR #CSCOJobList

Grateful to the Catton family for trusting me to tell their story.
Members of Guelph's running community spent today celebrating 3-year-old Benjamin Catton who's spent so much of his life in hospital. A few weeks ago, he received a kidney from his father. https://t.co/bJPDf5Ux0C

It's coming #OCC19 is now open! Join in Ontario's premier sport leadership event impacting 2.2 million youth in our province. Register by December 31 to save up to $70 off! Education is a journey, not a destination. Continue your journey at #OCC19 https://t.co/MB2ParmKY6

A meeting to discuss theOMA/AO Memorandum of Understanding will be held on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, 6:30pm at the offices of Athletics Ontario. Variety Village 370 Danforth Avenue, ScarboroughOMA Board members will be present, and all OMA members are welcome to attend.

Its Indoor Masters Exhibition Time of Year!! We are looking for Men and Women 60+ Qualifying times are 8.40 60M or lower for men and 11.30 60M or lower for Women! The event is at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island NY.
Application Link is OPEN!!... https://t.co/bqEf7YckIH

Hi T & F fam, we are sharing stories and calls for help by Masters Athletes affected by the fires in California. If you know of others with support campaigns please post here or send us a message. #mastersathletes... https://t.co/T8Sa2Niyji